Monday, February 17, 2014

McCune Davis Fights Windmills on House Floor

There was a small display of political resilience on the house floor today when the Committee of the Whole heard HB 2537.

The bill would allow pawnbrokers to charge five percent higher interest rates and would eliminate interest for military members who are deployed while forcing pawnbrokers to hold goods for 60 days after a military member returns from active duty service.

Two amendments were introduced, one by Rep. Sonny Borelli (R-Lake Havasu) and one by Rep. Debbie McCune Davis (D-Phoenix).

First, McCune Davis spoke out against Borelli’s amendment, which would change language from active duty service to deployed, saying that it would strip away protections from military families. His amendment passed anyways.

She then argued for her own amendment, which would have eliminated the five percent interest rate jump. She was swiftly voted down.

This is where most attempts to block a bill stop, but McCune Davis wasn’t done. She then called for her amendment to be put to a roll call vote. Just like before, her amendment was voted down.

She still wasn’t finished. After that, she called for a vote to eliminate Borelli’s amendment and, just like before, she was shot down among party lines.

McCune Davis knew that none of this was going to work, but she did it anyways to get a demonstration of who’s on which side of the argument.

“I’m not here to be silent and I’m certainly not here to pay respect to bad actions,” McCune Davis said. “I’m here to make the case for the average guy and make sure he doesn’t get taken advantage of.”